InsaneJournal

Who: Pyrrha and Ruby
What: Training Prep
When: 7 February - early morning
Where: Secluded park
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete

Things were finally settling back into a routine. Between the Grimm invasion, dealing with the aftermath, finals, Blake getting stabbed and needing to recover and then the apocalypse - well, training hadn’t really been a thing for team R_BY as Weiss had only just arrived. Friend things, sure, but not training. But the apocalypse was averted, injuries healed and so training was again thing. Matching up schedules was a bit complicated between jobs and school and internships but manageable.

Today though Ruby was meeting up with Pyrrha. They had discussed training before but again, life had sort of gotten in the way of that. Not anymore. At least not right now. Of course, Ruby was also worried that she was running late. Maybe not by much but still, she didn’t want to keep Pyrrha waiting. She also didn’t know where she was in the Dreams. But that was something Ruby didn’t want to bring up because of knowing what was to come and not knowing how to talk about it or if she even should. That…would be played by ear.

Arriving to the park, the teen noticed Pyrrha up ahead. Either she was late or Pyrrha was early. Either way though. Unlocking Crescent Rose, Ruby ran then used the weapon by shooting the ground to launch her into a rapid flip aided by her aura so that she landed - knees bending briefly to take the impact, her hands on the staff of Crescent Rose, scythe downwards and the staff upwards.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting long.”

Pyrrha had only really trained with her weapons by herself since they'd arrived, and while day by day and dream by dream she could feel her skills growing, they still weren't quite right and she felt, in a word, rusty.

Or maybe like she was a little in over her head. She couldn't do the kind of things Ruby just did, or that she did in her dreams. Not yet.

She smiled at Ruby, sliding her spear into her shield and clapping for her. “I haven’t been here long! That was amazing, Ruby!”

Ruby knew that feeling all too well. She was a lot more confident with Crescent Rose in the Dreams because she had years of training with Uncle Qrow there, on top of daily training at Beacon. But she was definitely more confident now than she’d been a few months ago when she had first started training. But that was also the whole point of practicing. To get better. There was muscle memory and all from the Dreams but you needed to train as well.

Pyrrha at least had her training and all from the Olympics so that would probably help her in terms of stamina and all. But there was always going to be that difference.

She did flush some at the clapping and would have scratched the back of her head if her hands weren’t occupied, though she did shift so that Crescent Rose was upright and she was only using one hand to keep it upright.

“Thanks. I really was just trying to get here sooner.”

“It was still impressive, and you’re not late at all.” Pyrrha walked over to Ruby. “I was just practicing a few forms. Trying to get my muscle to remember what it dreams about. It wasn’t really working so I did a few of my pre-run exercises. Are you limber?”

Out of context theatre would be fun with this conversation.

Well that was a relief. And she nodded some as Pyrrha told her what she’d been doing. That made sense. “Yeah, it can take a bit to get there but I’m sure you’ll have an easier time of it since you’re already super active and all. When I first started I had no stamina at all and I’m still not great at hand to hand.”

Shrugging some, Ruby blinked at the question.

“Yeah, I’d say I’m pretty limber now.”

“I do do javelin throwing,” Pyrrha admitted. “Do you think we subconsciously pick vocations or make life choices based on our dreams? Before we dream them, I mean. I’ve always been competitive, and hunter tournaments are Remnant’s version of the Olympics. You’re going to school for an engineering degree, aren’t you?”

Ruby nodded as Pyrrha asked what she was in school for.

“Yep.”

As for the question on if they subconsciously made life choices from the Dreams even before having them? That Ruby didn’t know. There did seem to be a lot of similarities but there were also a lot of differences.

“I don’t know… maybe? There are a lot of parallels anyway.”

“I just wonder sometimes,” Pyrrha murmured. “About the people we’re destined to be. I don’t think I’d ever want to be a huntress in this life, but it’s interesting to see how similar our lives are.” Did she really not want to be a huntress? At the moment, no, but her last dreams had barely gotten past the first semester.

Ruby felt her chest clench at the use of destined. Do you believe in destiny? and then Pyrrha disintegrating right in front of her while she was powerless to do anything but watch. But she didn’t want to think about that. One of the things she regretted from the Dreams was not spending more time with Pyrrha and Penny and Pyrrha was here and while there was always going to be that part of her that was at the clock tower when things like that were said… she was making up for what she hadn’t done in the Dreams because they’d been so busy with their own teams.

“I think…. I think that the core of who we are may be similar or even the same, the different pieces that come together. But our lives here are still what we make of them. I wanted to be a huntress to help people because it’s the right thing to do in the Dreams. Here, we don’t have Grimm to fight all the time, even things that happen here we can’t always fight. But I can help as many people as I can, do all the good I can, with what I look to with engineering.”

Shrugging, Ruby looked up at the sky before back at Pyrrha.

“At least, that’s how I look at it. I know others look at it differently.”

Pyrrha barely knew anyone in her dreams. But she liked them. She’d spent so much time growing up being the Star and the girl on the cereal box that to be around people who just saw her as a person was like a punch to the chest. A constant one. But she liked it.

“So the part of you, that’s good and whole and kind, she’s still the same. That’s good to know.” Pyrrha smiled at Ruby, then moved to start stretching for the sparring. Honestly she was surprised more people didn’t have crushes on the woman - if her eyes hadn’t been turned towards the blonde dumbass, she might have had one too.

“Pretty much, yep!” There were just parts of them that were the same or similar. Which meant that Ruby was the type to befriend people and give chances even if she was beyond awkward when dealing with people at first. Not as energetic, a bit older, but at the core she was basically that 15 year old girl who wanted to be a hero like in the books and to save all the people she could because that was the right thing to do.

Following suit, Ruby put Crescent Rose into compact mode so that she could stretch as well, clipping the weapon to her belt.

Pyrrha chose to believe the best in that. In that Ruby was a hero, and could be her friend. She hoped they became friends in her dreams. Some of them certainly seemed to lean towards that.

She was getting used to the weight of the shield though, and spun her sword around, testing the weight and the ability to transform into various shapes. “Lets avoid projectiles for now? I don’t think my Aura is active.”

And of course a comment about avoiding projectiles. Ruby nearly tripped over herself at that comment but managed to keep from flailing completely. Instead the teen just nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, pretty sure you’d know if your aura were active. But avoiding projectiles is good. I think right now is more getting used to the weight and moving with the weapons more than anything.” Small steps. It would do no good to get caught up in your weapons because you weren’t used to the the length of weight of it all.

Baby steps, but hopefully not for much longer. Pyrrha hated the idea of not being in her best shape or condition, and this would be the start of a hard, long series of training sessions (alone or not) in order to bring herself to the point where she was in her dreams. She saw a lot of potential for her return to the Olympics and World Championships there. And if she was honest with herself, it was exciting.

“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever held before. Although it flies really well when thrown as a javelin.” She shifted it into the spear form and grinned. “I’m ready when you are, Ruby!”

“See, you already have a step up because it’s similar to what you’ve done with sports!” Which was good. It had shocked Ruby how easy using Crescent Rose had come to her when it had shown up and she’d gone to see Qrow to train. But that was the way of it. Still, more familiarity didn’t hurt anyone.

Grinning some, the teen nodded before unclasping Crescent Rose once more. It was time to train.